Baskonia Vitoria Gasteiz had a tough task at hand in trying to match its fantastic 2015-16 season. The team changed its core of players and also its head coach, but still remained deep in the playoff zone for most of the regular season and ended up advancing to the next phase with a 17-13 record and seventh place. A four-game winning streak in December and another in March covered up for a negative run of six losses in seven games between Rounds 17 and 23. Baskonia clinched a playoff berth for the 10th time in 12 seasons, but there the team was swept by CSKA Moscow after three tough games. Adam Hanga was one of the team leaders and was chosen as the EuroLeague Best Defender by the league’s head coaches, and Baksonia showed, once again, its innate ability to sign talent that seemed to go under the radar for everybody else with names like Shane Larkin, Johannes Voigtmann and Rodrigue Beaubois playing major roles. The Basque team confirmed that it belongs among the European elite.

EuroLeague

SEASON

COMPETITION

RECORD

FINISH

2016-17

EuroLeague

17-16

Playoffs

2015-16

EuroLeague

18-11

Semifinals

2014-15

EuroLeague

11-13

Top 16

2013-14

EuroLeague

11-13

Top 16

2012-13

EuroLeague

13-15

Playoffs

2011-12

EuroLeague

5-5

Regular Season

2010-11

EuroLeague

10-10

Playoffs

2009-10

EuroLeague

11-9

Playoffs

2008-09

EuroLeague

14-7

Playoffs

2007-08

EuroLeague

16-9

Semifinals

2006-07

EuroLeague

20-4

Semifinals

2005-06

EuroLeague

18-7

Semifinals

2004-05

EuroLeague

13-11

Runner-up

2003-04

EuroLeague

13-7

Top 16

2002-03

EuroLeague

11-9

Top 16

2001-02

EuroLeague

13-7

Top 16

2000-01

EuroLeague

15-7

Runner-up

TOTAL:

229-160

History

"Baskonia Character" is the motto that this club lives by and continues to strive for every season. Saski Baskonia was founded in 1959 and started playing in Spain's first division in the 1970s. The club's first trophy did not come until 1995, when Velimir Perasovic led the team to the Spanish Copa del Rey. Vitoria also reached the Saporta Cup finals in 1994 and 1995 and finally lifted that trophy in 1996 after downing PAOK Thessaloniki behind 31 points from Ramon Rivas. The club, then called Tau Ceramica, reached its first Spanish League finals in 1998 and added a second Copa del Rey title in 1999. The turn of the century led to instant success in the EuroLeague. Elmer Bennett and Victor Alexander led Tau to the 2000-01 EuroLeague playoff finals before losing to Kinder Bologna in a do-or-die Game 5. In 2002, with Dejan Tomasevic as its new star, Tau won the Copa del Rey and its first Spanish League championship. Luis Scola led Tau to Copa del Rey titles in 2004 and 2006 and the team did well in the EuroLeague too. Tau reached the Final Four in four consecutive seasons, from 2005 through 2008. In 2005, Tau upset favored host CSKA Moscow in the semifinals, but couldn't overcome defending champ Maccabi Elite Tel Aviv in the championship game. It proved to be the team’s last EuroLeague championship game, as Maccabi, Panathinaikos Athens and CSKA stopped Tau in the semifinals from 2006 to 2008. The club bounced back to win its second Spanish League title in 2008 by downing Barcelona in the finals behind an outstanding Pete Mickeal. Tau added another Copa del Rey in 2009 before changing its name to Caja Laboral – which became Laboral Kutxa late in the 2012-13 season. In 2010, Laboral conquered a third Spanish League championship by sweeping Barcelona on a memorable series-winning three-point play by Fernando San Emeterio. There have not been any more titles since, but the fact that Fernando Buesa Arena was expanded to 15,504 seats and the many initiatives the club continues to put into practice show that Baskonia is always moving forward. The club reached the EuroLeague playoffs in 2011 and 2012 and reached the Top 16 14 times in 15 years. After a stellar 2015-16 season that marked its return to the Final Four, Baskonia armed a new team starting with Coach Sito Alonso and new faces that would lead the group to another strong season: Shane Larkin, Rodrigue Beaubois and Johannes Voigtmann, plus Adam Hanga, who was chosen as the Best Defender Trophy winner by coaches. The team managed to rack up to 17 wins in the new regular season format, which was good enough for a playoff ticket. Baskonia was swept by CSKA in three games, but that just adds more fuel to the fire that will surely keep burning this season.